Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 30. (Budapest, 2016)
Ildikó PANDUR: A Wrought-Iron Exhibition Hall Gateway from 1883: A Contribution to the Architectural History of the Old Exhibition Hall and the Old Music Academy in Budapest
4. Parts of a grille, 2 pieces Sándor Uhl - Gyula Jungfer, Budapest, 1883. Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, inv. no. 2015.186.1-2. and its parts, which were hitherto listed in the collection as unrelated items, with different inventory numbers and unconnected descriptions (gate pediment, garden gate, side section of a railing).1 (Figs. 1—2-3-4) Among the Jungfer documents in the Archives of the Museum of Applied Arts, a design for a gateway2 (Fig. 5-6) was found recently, which helped us to determine the true function of the different items of wrought iron. The drawing, which - judging by its condition - must have been handled frequently during the manufacturing process, shows a tall, arched gateway fitted with a lower grille. The sign at the top, which was presumably made of sheet metal, is now lost, so it is quite understandable that, as time went by, the disassembled components of the gateway became separated from each other. The text itself - “Exhibition Hall of the Museum of Applied Arts” — made it clear that the grille was once used to fence off an exhibition space. Exhibitions at the Museum of Applied Arts The idea of establishing a museum for the applied arts was proposed by Flóris Römer, inspired by the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1867. The Museum of Applied Arts was founded in 1872,3 when an act of parliament set aside the sum of 50,000 forints to purchase works of applied art at the approaching World’s Fair in Vienna in 1873. A set of ceramics received as a gift from the English delegation at a previous world’s fair, the Great London Exposition of 1862, was reallocated to the new collection from the possession of the Hungarian Association of Industry.4 As the collection was expanded, particular attention was devoted to the pieces deposited to the new museum on long-term loan from the departments of antiquities and ethnography at the Hungarian National Museum; the collections of cottage industry wares assembled by János Xantus and Flóris Römer; and the oriental objects collected - under the leadership of Xantus - during the 99
